Kegging - Lack of Head

[Iseneye]

I have had a four keg system with 10' lines and perlicks for about a year. Spent several years bottling and never had an issue with head stability. The final bottled brew I did was a munich helles and it had big foamy stable head.

Since I've been kegging I have not had a single beer with even moderately stable head. Last two brews were 7% IPA and 5% porter with flaked barley. Both of these have poor head and I can only attribute it to kegging - other processes haven't changed except for introducing pH and water chemistry control. I have a good meter and add lactic acid to get to 5.4 room temp.

I overshot my mash temperature on the IPA so it should have had plenty of head forming proteins.

Any suggestions? The pours from the 10' lines are nice but I'm considering shortening one line as a test.

Thanks.

 

[Gavin C]

I think the water chemistry is the likliest candidate. You are not using calcium carbonate by any chance are you?

 

[Iseneye]

Nope, no CaC03. I've got moderately soft water so non-hoppy ales and lagers get CaCl to 50ppm Ca and pale ales gypsum to 150ppm CaS04. Only other addition is Lactic - I BIAB so generally need in the region of 3ml to hit pH target.

 

[Gavin C]

Maybe would be a good idea to post your water profile and planned additions in the brew science forum. Lots of knowing folks there to help. I really cant see how it could be related to the kegs, assuming they are cleaned, rinsed and sanitized (I'm sure they are) with the appropriate materials.

What about the beer lines. What are those being cleaned with? Again I'm just throwing out ideas. Not really very useful to you I'm afraid.

What pH meter are you using. If it's off or not correctly calibrated it could be steering you wrong with regard to mash pH. What do you use to calculate the water additions?

 

[Iseneye]

Thanks Gavin,

I'll try the Brew Science forum.

Have a Hach Pro+ that is calibrated every brew day and I have done AJ's stability test on it (didn't record results).

I got a lab test done on my water last year:

g/m3 as CaCO3 = 53
g/m3 Bicarbonate = 64
g/m3 as CaC03 Total Hardness = 54

Ca = 11.7
Magnesium = 6.1
Sodium = 8.1
Chloride = 11.0
Sulphate = 3.8

Bunch of other non-relevant stuff.

I have used three different calculators - EZ, Brun and some other one I've forgotten. Generally EZ gives the closest pH results.

Anyway I'm off on a bit of tangent. I'll copy this to Brew Science.

 

[stpug]

Can you give a description of how the foam stability differs from your bottled beers to your kegged beers? How big the foam develops during the pour? How long it takes the foam to reduce to it's maintainable height? How thick the maintainable height is? Just trying to get a picture in my head of how much different they are in your situation.

Also, related to kegging, how long are these beers being carbonated before serving and how long do your kegs typically last? I ask because I have noticed that kegged beers tend to get served quicker than bottled batches, and tend to get drank quicker than bottled versions. From my own experience, I have seen that regardless of carbonating method it takes a good 14 days for good foam stability to develop (which is not to say you can't get a nice foam head on a beer from a keg within a couple days but that foam will not have the stability it will in another 10+ days). Nothing is written in stone about this, just observations I've noticed over my time kegging.

 

[Iseneye]

It's been a while since my last bottled beer but my Munich Helles (which I wouldn't expect to have great head retention properties) had a good 1" creamy head that lasted to the bottom of the glass. I have similar memories of my APAs - I would have 1" head which I would be drinking through until the bottom of the glass. Perhaps I have rose tinted eyewear and it wasn't as good as that.

Generally when I pour from the keg I need to make a bit of an effort to develop 1/2" head - i.e. bit of a splashy pour. The head will then completely dissipate in under 5 minutes (maybe less). Due to the water treatment my beers are superior to the old non-treated bottles but the lack of head retention is annoying me.

I am a slow drinker and kegs last for at least 2-3 months. My porter is at about the 4 week mark now. I set and forget and don't drink until 2-3 weeks in the keg. I have two empty keg spots which will be filled over the coming months. The other keg is a cider so no head on that.

 

[stpug]

Well, it's certainly not caused by drinking too quickly.

Do the carbonation levels of your kegged beer seem the same as your bottled beers? I ask because I know I used to carbonate to higher co2 volumes when bottling than I do kegging due to naivety (i.e. too much priming sugar), and my bottled beer certainly had better foam production (and I would say stability too). Maybe you need to bump up your psi a touch (2-3 psi more if we're talking US terms ).

As an alternative, you could try increasing those foam producing malts but I feel like it shouldn't be needed. Maybe you're on to something with the water???

 

[The_Bishop]

Did you change your cleaning regimen on your glassware? That may be causing the issue.

 

[hunter_le five]

[Obligatory Lack-of-Head Thread Joke] Did you marry your kegerator? Big mistake.[/Obligatory Lack-of-Head Thread Joke]

 

[Bobby_M]

How specific were you with priming sugar amounts in the bottling days? Did you calculate the amount for the volumes of CO2 you wanted? I'm just spit balling here but it's very possible that your current pressure/temp is putting your carbonation level lower than the bottles you grew accustomed to.

 

[Iseneye]

How specific were you with priming sugar amounts in the bottling days? Did you calculate the amount for the volumes of CO2 you wanted? I'm just spit balling here but it's very possible that your current pressure/temp is putting your carbonation level lower than the bottles you grew accustomed to.

This may be the issue. I measured out priming sugar by weight and Beersmith figures to get to 2.5 volumes but the bottles felt like they had more carbonation.

Kegs are set to 2.4 volumes by temperature and pressure. I will do a test and bump up pressure a bit.

And yes, I realised the lack of head title More interesting than "Foam Stability Comparison Between Bottles and Kegs".